You never get a chance to undo a negative first impression: Social anxiety is associated with impaired positive updating of social information

Zabag, Reut; Azoulay, Roy; Rinck, Mike; Becker, Eni S.; Levy-Gigi, Einat; Gilboa–Schechtman, Eva

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2022.111993

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 60 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Sample sizes were calculated using the G*Power software 26 . Based on effect sizes found in previous studies 17 , 25 , we expected to observe a small-sized effect for all hypotheses (Cohen’s f = 0.16). A-priori power analysis for mixed factor repeated measures Generalized Linear Model (GLM) was conducted to detect this effect size with a significance (α) of 5% and power (1 − β) of 80%.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Finally, recent studies have further supported that SA is associated with a struggle to update an initially negative impression of another person in the light of new positive information 16 – 18 . These deficits appear to be selective to social context 17 , 19 . Those impairments were also found to be specific to positively updating negative information and absent in negatively updating positive information 3 – 6 , 15 , 16 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…SA was computed as the mean standardized scores of the LSAS and SPIN questionnaires (the correlation between LSAS and SPIN was r = 0.89, p < 0.001) in order to enhance the convergent validity and following previous studies 16 , 17 . A higher score indicates a greater severity of SA.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Better social reversal learning is associated with a more social approach across time

Zabag,

Kivity,

Gilboa-Schechtman

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Flexibly updating behaviors towards others is crucial for adaptive social functioning. Previous studies have found that difficulties in flexibly updating behaviors are associated with social anxiety (SA). However, it is unclear whether such difficulties relate to actual social behaviors. The current study investigated the relationships between negative-to-positive social reversal learning, social approach behavior, and SA across time. Participants (MTurk, Time 1 = 275, Time 2 = 126, 16 weeks later) completed a performance-based social reversal-learning task. In the initial phase, participants learned that interactions with certain individuals are associated with negative outcomes, whereas interactions with other individuals are associated with positive outcomes. In the reversal phase, these associations were reversed, requiring participants to update their behaviors. The relationships between the performance in the task, SA severity, and social approach behavior reported by participants were assessed cross-sectionally and longitudinally. We found that negative-to-positive updating was negatively associated with SA severity. Furthermore, negative-to-positive updating was positively correlated with social approach behavior, both cross-sectionally and prospectively. Hence, individuals with better negative-to-positive updating at Time 1 reported significantly more social approach behaviors across time. The results support the role of negative-to-positive updating as a mechanism associated with SA and social approach, advancing and refining interpersonal and cognitive theories of SA.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Better social reversal learning is associated with a more social approach across time

Zabag,

Kivity,

Gilboa-Schechtman

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…When confronted with others who evaluate them negatively or neutrally, people who are socially anxious readily learn these evaluations accurately, whereas healthy controls are biased toward believing that others think more positively of them even when they are receiving more negative or neutral evaluations [ 12 ]. Some research has found that individuals who are socially anxious tend to learn more from angry versus happy faces [ 13 ], whereas other research has not found evidence that people who are socially anxious have biased updating of angry faces [ 14 ]. Importantly, several studies have found that individuals who are socially anxious have difficulty adapting their learning and behavior to changing probabilities of social punishment [ 15 - 17 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Importantly, several studies have found that individuals who are socially anxious have difficulty adapting their learning and behavior to changing probabilities of social punishment [ 15 - 17 ]. Specifically, there is accumulating evidence that individuals who are socially anxious have difficulty updating negative social expectancies to become more positive [ 14 , 18 ]. Together, these studies suggest that individuals who are socially anxious may have negative biases in social RL that can make it difficult to learn from social interactions, even when they seemingly go well.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Learning From Social Feedback After Web-Based Interpretation Bias Modification: Secondary Analysis of a Digital Mental Health Intervention Among Individuals With High Social Anxiety Symptoms

Beltzer¹,

Daniel²,

Daros³

et al. 2023

JMIR Form Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Biases in social reinforcement learning, or the process of learning to predict and optimize behavior based on rewards and punishments in the social environment, may underlie and maintain some negative cognitive biases that are characteristic of social anxiety. However, little is known about how cognitive and behavioral interventions may change social reinforcement learning in individuals who are anxious. Objective This study assessed whether a scalable, web-based cognitive bias modification for interpretations (CBM-I) intervention changed social reinforcement learning biases in participants with high social anxiety symptoms. This study focused on 2 types of social reinforcement learning relevant to social anxiety: learning about other people and learning about one’s own social performance. Methods Participants (N=106) completed 2 laboratory sessions, separated by 5 weeks of ecological momentary assessment tracking emotion regulation strategy use and affect. Approximately half (n=51, 48.1%) of the participants completed up to 6 brief daily sessions of CBM-I in week 3. Participants completed a task that assessed social reinforcement learning about other people in both laboratory sessions and a task that assessed social reinforcement learning about one’s own social performance in the second session. Behavioral data from these tasks were computationally modeled using Q-learning and analyzed using mixed effects models. Results After the CBM-I intervention, participants updated their beliefs about others more slowly (P=.04; Cohen d=−0.29) but used what they learned to make more accurate decisions (P=.005; Cohen d=0.20), choosing rewarding faces more frequently. These effects were not observed among participants who did not complete the CBM-I intervention. Participants who completed the CBM-I intervention also showed less-biased updating about their social performance than participants who did not complete the CBM-I intervention, learning similarly from positive and negative feedback and from feedback on items related to poor versus good social performance. Regardless of the intervention condition, participants at session 2 versus session 1 updated their expectancies about others more from rewarding (P=.003; Cohen d=0.43) and less from punishing outcomes (P=.001; Cohen d=−0.47), and they became more accurate at learning to avoid punishing faces (P=.001; Cohen d=0.20). Conclusions Taken together, our results provide initial evidence that there may be some beneficial effects of both the CBM-I intervention and self-tracking of emotion regulation on social reinforcement learning in individuals who are socially anxious, although replication will be important.

show abstract

Adapting to uncertainty: The role of anxiety and fear of negative evaluation in learning in social and non-social contexts

Topel,

Ma,

van Duijvenvoorde

et al. 2024

Journal of Affective Disorders

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

You never get a chance to undo a negative first impression: Social anxiety is associated with impaired positive updating of social information

Cited by 5 publications

References 60 publications

Better social reversal learning is associated with a more social approach across time

Better social reversal learning is associated with a more social approach across time

Changes in Learning From Social Feedback After Web-Based Interpretation Bias Modification: Secondary Analysis of a Digital Mental Health Intervention Among Individuals With High Social Anxiety Symptoms

Adapting to uncertainty: The role of anxiety and fear of negative evaluation in learning in social and non-social contexts

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About